Grays Harbor County

administration
Grays Harbor County Courthouse
US state :	Washington
Administrative headquarters :	Montesano
Foundation :	April 14, 1854
Demographics
Residents :	72,797 (2010)
Population density :	14.7 inhabitants / km ²
geography
Total area :	5761 km²
Water surface :	797 km²
map

Website : www.co.grays-harbor.wa.us

Grays Harbor County is a county in the state of Washington in the United States . At the 2000 census it had 67,194 inhabitants. The county seat is in Montesano , the largest city is Aberdeen .

geography

The county covers an area of 5,761 square kilometers; of which 797 square kilometers (13.83 percent) are water. Adjacent counties are Jefferson County in the north, Mason County in the northeast, Thurston County in the east and southeast, Lewis County in the southeast and south, and Pacific County in the south. To the west lies the Pacific Ocean . Two Indian reservations are at least partially in the area of the county, the Chehalis Indian Reservation and the Quinault Indian Reservation on Lake Quinault.

The geography of the county includes the rivers Chehalis River and Humptulips River , both of which emptied into Grays Harbor , as well as the Quinault River , which flows through Lake Quinault , Satsop River , and Wynoochee River with the reservoir built in 1972.

The county also has a share of the Olympic Peninsula with the Olympic Mountains , Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest . The Colonel Bob Wilderness is another federal protected area.

history

The county was formed on April 14, 1854 as Chehalis County from Thurston County and was given its current name in 1915. It was named after Grays Harbor , an estuary on the southwest corner of the county, which in turn is named after the navigator Robert Gray , who discovered and sailed it on May 7, 1792.

Demographic data

growth of population
Census	Residents	± in%
1860	285	-
1870	401	40.7%
1880	921	129.7%
1890	9249	904.2%
1900	15,124	63.5%
1910	35,590	135.3%
1920	44,745	25.7%
1930	59,982	34.1%
1940	53,166	-11.4%
1950	53,644	0.9%
1960	54,465	1.5%
1970	59,553	9.3%
1980	66,314	11.4%
1990	64,175	-3.2%
2000	67.194	4.7%
2010	72,797	8.3%
Before 1900 1900-1990 2000 Grays Harbor County's age pyramid (as of 2000)

Lake at Wynoochee Dam

Mouth of the Humptulips River

Aerial view of the mouth of the Chehalis River

At the time of the 2000 United States Census, 67,194 people lived in the county. The population density was 14 people per square kilometer. There were 32,489 housing units, an average of 7 per square kilometer. The county's population was 88.3 percent White , 0.34 percent Black or African American , 4.66 percent Native American , 1.22 percent Asian , 0.11 percent Pacific Islander ; 2.27 percent said they belonged to other races and 3.1 percent named two or more races. 4.85 percent of the population said they were Hispanic or Latino of ancestry. According to the results of the census, 16.3 percent had German ancestors, 11.9 percent were of American descent, 9.9 percent of British , 9.2 percent of Irish and 6.1 percent of Norwegian . 94.1 percent spoke English and 3.9 percent spoke Spanish as their mother tongue.

The county's residents were distributed among 26,808 households out of which 30.5 percent had children under the age of 18. 50.7 percent of households are married, 11.1 percent had a female head of household without a husband, and 33.2 percent did not form families. 26.7 percent of households were made up of individuals and someone lived in 11.6 percent of all households aged 65 years or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 2.98.

The county's population was divided into 25.7 percent minors, 7.9 percent 18–24 year olds, 26.0 percent 25–44 year olds, 25.0 percent 45–64 year olds, and 15.4 percent aged 65 years or more. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 women there were 98.8 men. For every 100 women over the age of 18, there were 96.2 men.

The median household income in the county was 34,160 US dollars and the median family income reached the amount of 39,709 US dollars. The median income for men was $ 35,947, compared with $ 24,262 for women. The per capita income for the county was $ 16,799. 16.1 percent of the population and 11.9 percent of families had an income below the poverty line , of which 21.6 percent of minors and 9.4 percent of the age group 65 and over were affected.

Cities and Towns in the County

In addition, there are a number of settlements that are designated by the United States Census Bureau as settlement areas ( census-designated place ) defined for statistical purposes :